League investigated previous complaint against hockey coach

Hockey's national governing body investigated and dismissed accusations of inappropriate conduct made against Anthony DeSilva almost two years before his arrest.

NATALIE SHERMAN

NEW BEDFORD — Hockey's national governing body investigated and dismissed accusations of inappropriate conduct made against the coach of the Massachusetts Maple Leafs almost two years before his arrest this week on charges of soliciting underage boys online.

Dave Fischer, a spokesman for USA Hockey, said local officials from the hockey league did not find enough evidence to support the claims about Anthony “Tony” DeSilva made by the father of a former Maple Leafs player in an email to league officials on Jan. 24, 2011.

League officials launched an investigation two days after receiving the email, he said. They closed the inquiry in March of that year, he said.

DeSilva, 41, of Acushnet was arrested Wednesday in Acushnet after authorities say he sent nude photos to what he thought were two 16-year-old boys in Polk County, Fla. The images actually went to investigators posing as the teens, authorities said.

DeSilva was sent to the Polk County Jail today and will appear Saturday in court, said Polk County Sheriff spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer.

DeSilva has been suspended by USA Hockey, Massachusetts Hockey and the Eastern States hockey league due to the legal proceedings against him, Fischer said.

“He can't have any contact with any of our programs,” he said.

Andrew “Sarge” Richards, commissioner of the Eastern States Hockey League, who conducted the investigation, said he closed the investigation because he was never able to talk to the player.

“We did what we could. We're not a legal society,” he said.

“We encouraged the family at the time, if they felt the allegations they were presenting were factual to take it to the legal authorities.

“The fact that they never did — I don't know why,” he said.

The player's father David Rivers said he dropped the complaint out of consideration for his son, Alex, who was 18 at the time and did not want to be involved.

“He thought highly of the team,” said Rivers, who lives in Raleigh, N.C.

Rivers said he is now working with an attorney related to the accusations made against DeSilva. He declined further comment.

In the email to USA Hockey officials, Rivers accused DeSilva of crawling into bed with his son and sending him numerous late-night text messages.

He said he hoped coming forward would “put an end” to the behavior before someone got “seriously” hurt.

“I have worked very hard over the years to have a close relationship with my son and thankfully he came to me prior to a tragedy I could not repair. My fear is the young men who do not have the same type of relationship with their parents, and become victim to this predator,” he wrote in an email first published on juniorhockey.com.

DeSilva has been involved with the Maple Leafs as coach and general manager since 1997. He also coached the Middleboro Bolts Babe Ruth baseball team of the Cranberry League.

An affidavit from the Polk County, Fla., Sheriff's department said police began their investigation earlier this year when the mother of one Florida teen complained that she believed that DeSilva was soliciting her son through Facebook.

Detectives obtained the mother's permission to pose as her son and to continue communicating with DeSilva online.

DeSilva sent naked images of himself to what he thought was the boy and, in graphic detail in online and text conversations, described what he wanted to do sexually, Eleazer said.

About the same time, DeSilva began soliciting another Polk County teen, and undercover detectives asked for and received permission to pose as that boy online, Eleazer said. Detectives posing as the two different 16-year-old boys had conversations with DeSilva, and he solicited both young men to perform sex acts and to send him nude photos, according to police.